Short answer: you can. The Los Angeles Police Department accepts complaints about its officers from anyone, in any form, including anonymously, and so do the Office of the Inspector General and the Board of Police Commissioners. But a complaint is a recorded statement to the agency you may later sue, and the Department keeps it. It does not preserve any legal right, and it does not pause any deadline. For anyone who may bring a claim, whether and when to file is a real decision, and it is generally sensible to talk with a lawyer before giving a recorded account to the other side. This guide explains what a complaint does, why it can matter to a lawsuit, and how the three complaint channels work.
A complaint and a lawsuit are separate tracks
A personnel complaint asks the Department to examine its own employee. The LAPD Manual, Volume 3, section 810.01, defines it as "any public complaint, anonymous or third person, regarding Department service, policy or procedure, claims for damages, or employee misconduct." The possible results are internal: a finding on each allegation and, if one is sustained, discipline decided by the Chief of Police. No money, no order, and no finding that binds a court.
A lawsuit does not depend on a complaint. In Patsy v. Board of Regents, 457 U.S. 496 (1982), the United States Supreme Court held that exhaustion of state administrative remedies is not required before bringing a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. section 1983. State-law claims for money against the City have their own precondition, a written government claim, and that clock runs from the incident whether or not a complaint investigation is open. See How to File a Government Claim Against the City or County of Los Angeles and What Are the Deadlines to Sue Police in California?.
Why the statement matters
The Department's rules make a complaint a recorded, retained account. Manual section 811 requires the supervisor who takes a complaint to "tape-record all interviews," and if a complainant refuses to be recorded, to record the refusal. Section 832 requires "the record and disposition of all complaints," including those found Unfounded or Exonerated, to be kept in the Department's tracking system, and section 833 keeps every closed investigation in Internal Affairs files.
In a later lawsuit, that record is within reach. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1), parties may obtain discovery of any nonprivileged matter relevant to a claim or defense, and the information "need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable." Under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(A), a statement "made by the party in an individual or representative capacity" is not hearsay when offered against that party. In plain terms, what a complainant tells investigators can be read back to them in a deposition or at trial, and any difference between that early account and later testimony, however innocent, becomes something to explain. An account given the day after an injury, without the incident report, the body-camera footage, or a lawyer, is rarely complete. That is the reason the decision deserves thought, not a reason to stay silent.
A complaint can be filed at any time and anonymously. Nothing in the Department's rules requires it to be filed before a lawsuit, and nothing in the lawsuit rules requires it at all. The question is what a recorded statement to the Department adds to or takes from a case, and that depends on the case.
What a complaint can do
The process has real uses. It creates a dated record that the Department received an allegation. It starts an investigation in which, as the Inspector General describes it, the Department gathers witness accounts, documents, video, and other evidence and interviews the officers. Complaints "shall be accepted from any source," including anonymously, under section 810.05, and anonymous or third-party complaints "will be investigated to the extent that sufficient information is provided." The Inspector General can review the outcome if the complainant disagrees with it.
Manual section 820.25 allows only these dispositions for a disciplinary allegation: Unfounded (the act "did not occur"), Exonerated (the act occurred but "was justified, lawful, and proper"), Not Resolved ("insufficient evidence to prove or disprove clearly the allegations made"), Sustained (the act occurred "and constitutes misconduct"), Sustained-No Penalty, and Insufficient Evidence to Adjudicate. When an allegation is sustained, the Chief decides the penalty, which the Inspector General lists as admonishment, official reprimand, suspension, demotion, or discharge. Under City Charter section 1070, a discharge goes to a Board of Rights hearing, and the Chief may reduce the Board's penalty but not increase it.
What the complainant learns at the end is limited. If you gave a mailing address, Manual section 825.30 requires a reply letter stating the disposition of each allegation and, when one is sustained, "the general acknowledgement that appropriate discipline was imposed, without indicating the specific penalty." The letter generally does not name the officers. The Inspector General's FAQ explains that California law treats peace officer personnel records as confidential, so complainants usually learn whether misconduct was found but not what discipline followed.
Timing
The Department's public page says an investigation "generally varies from several months to about a year." City Charter section 1070(c) bars discipline for conduct "discovered by an uninvolved supervisor of the department more than one year prior to the filing of the complaint against the member," with listed exceptions that include a pending criminal case and a civil lawsuit in which the officer is a defendant. The complaint process has its own schedule; it never changes the six-month government claim deadline or the two-year federal deadline.
The three places to file
The LAPD. Call the 24-hour Internal Affairs hotline at 1-800-339-6868 (TDD 213-978-3500), email LAPDcms@lapd.online, use the online form linked from the Department's complaint page, go to any Community Police Station and ask for a supervisor "regardless of where the incident occurred," or pick up a "Complaint of Employee Misconduct" form at any police facility or City Council field office. The form is posted in seven languages and is optional. Internal Affairs issues a Complaint Form number and mails an acknowledgment that references it; keep that number.
The Office of the Inspector General. Phone (213) 893-6400, TTY (213) 482-7002, email oigcomplaint@lapd.online, fax, mail, the office's mobile app, in person, or at a public meeting of the Board. Its published address is 350 S. Figueroa Street, Suite 1002, Los Angeles, CA 90071, but the office announced that it began relocating on August 21, 2026, so check its website before visiting. Filing here does not change who investigates: the office's own flowchart says all complaints "are routed to the LAPD Professional Standards Bureau." What it adds is oversight. Charter section 573 directs the Inspector General to "audit, investigate and oversee the Police Department's handling of complaints of misconduct," and the office "monitors the complaint investigation process for thoroughness and objectivity." It investigates complaints against the Chief of Police itself. It does not impose discipline.
The Board of Police Commissioners. The Board, five civilians appointed by the Mayor, is the head of the Department under the Charter. A complaint can be made at its office or to its staff. Manual section 811.30 requires the Board's Executive Director to have it evaluated and to bring it to the Board when there is reason to believe disciplinary procedures were not followed, when it would likely cause great public concern, or when it "appears reasonable and there is evidence that repeated efforts by the complainant have not provided relief." Otherwise it is referred to Internal Affairs. If the complainant does not want to be interviewed by a sworn officer, a non-sworn member of the Commission staff conducts the interview. The Board's email for public comments is policecommission@lapd.online.
Before you decide
The practical question is not whether a complaint is allowed; it always is. It is whether a recorded account to the Department, given now, helps or hurts what you may later need to prove. People who are considering a claim often ask a lawyer that question first, then file, file with a lawyer's help, or hold off, depending on the answer. For how to obtain the video of the incident, see How to Get Police Body Camera Footage in California. For complaints about a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, see Should You File a Complaint Against a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy If You Might Sue? Questions about a specific incident can be sent through the contact form.
Sources
- Los Angeles Police Department, "Information on How to File a Complaint" (hotline, email, online form, stations, council offices, forms in seven languages)
- Los Angeles Police Department, Professional Standards Bureau, "Report Employee Misconduct" (where to file, the investigation process, anonymous complaints, timing)
- Los Angeles Police Department Manual, Volume 3, Quarter 1 2026, sections 810 to 834 (definition of a complaint, acceptance, recorded interviews, Police Commission complaints, dispositions, reply letters, retention of records)
- Los Angeles Police Department, "Police Commission" (the Board as head of the Department, five civilian members, public comment)
- Office of the Inspector General, "How to File a Complaint" (phone, email, fax, mail, app, in person, relocation notice)
- Office of the Inspector General, "FAQs" (what happens after a complaint, confidentiality of outcomes, case review, who imposes discipline)
- Office of the Inspector General, "When a complaint of misconduct is filed against an LAPD employee" (updated October 1, 2021) (routing to the Professional Standards Bureau, evidence gathered, oversight, discipline options, case review)
- Los Angeles City Charter section 571, Board of Police Commissioners (powers of the Board, appointment of the Inspector General)
- Los Angeles City Charter section 573, Inspector General (duty to audit, investigate and oversee complaint handling)
- Los Angeles City Charter section 1070, Rights and Due Process Procedures (one-year limitations period, Chief's disciplinary powers, Board of Rights)
- Patsy v. Board of Regents of Florida, 457 U.S. 496 (1982) (no exhaustion of state administrative remedies before a section 1983 action)
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) (scope of discovery)
- Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2) (an opposing party's own statement is not hearsay)